Jennifer Gish: Young women build character on court

Published 8:47 pm, Saturday, March 22, 2014

UAlbany's Sarah Royals, left, and Margarita Rosario, center, talk with coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson as they prepare for their NCAA game against West Virginia on Thursday, March 20, 2014, at SEFCU Arena in Albany, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union) less

UAlbany's Sarah Royals, left, and Margarita Rosario, center, talk with coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson as they prepare for their NCAA game against West Virginia on Thursday, March 20, 2014, at SEFCU Arena in ... more

Albany coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson discusses a play with forward Shereesha Richards (25) during practice at the NCAA women's college basketball tournament in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, March 22, 2014. Albany faces West Virginia in a first-round game Sunday. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) ORG XMIT: LARS129 less

Albany coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson discusses a play with forward Shereesha Richards (25) during practice at the NCAA women's college basketball tournament in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, March 22, 2014. ... more

Photo: Rogelio V. Solis

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Albany center Megan Craig stretches for a ball while a coach defends during practice at the NCAA women's college basketball tournament in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, March 22, 2014. Albany faces West Virginia in a first-round game Sunday. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) ORG XMIT: LARS130 less

Albany center Megan Craig stretches for a ball while a coach defends during practice at the NCAA women's college basketball tournament in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, March 22, 2014. Albany faces West Virginia ... more

Photo: Rogelio V. Solis

Jennifer Gish: Young women build character on court

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Megan Craig towers above the 10-year-old girl whose shoulder is tucked under the University at Albany 6-foot-9 center's sizable hand.

It's Monday night, and the UAlbany women's basketball team is waiting for the NCAA Tournament selection show to begin, the one that will tell them that they've been matched up with West Virginia in the first round of college basketball's biggest event. The 10-year-old is Savannah, oldest daughter of UAlbany coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, who knows all the players as big sisters and a road map for her own basketball dreams.

And a young girl couldn't have better hands on her shoulders.

Margarita Rosario dreamt of playing in the NCAA Tournament when she was on the courts at 5:30 a.m. before middle school, getting her 2,000 shots in for the day.

Their time at UAlbany has given them unimagined success — three straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. But their coach, and the game, has given them more.

More Information

UAlbany vs. West Virginia

When: 3:10 p.m. Sunday

Where: Maravich Center, Baton Rouge, La.

TV, radio: ESPN, WOFX 980 AM

Abrahamson-Henderson throws around the term "phenomenal woman" a lot when speaking about the goal of her program. For the coach, the game gave her a place to play out her anger over losing her father far too young. She developed an intensity. She hated to lose. And now she's built a career on winning and developing strong women.

Sports has long been a character-builder no matter what locker room you change in. But for women, it holds more. Abrahamson-Henderson gets it — that ability to change a life through a game.

"It's OK to be aggressive, to go after your goals," she says. "I tell (players), I don't want you to be a flower on the wall. Stand up for yourself."

Rosario started playing basketball when she was 4 and was brought into the game by her older brothers.

They had her play with boys so she would have to be more "aggressive," and when she transitioned onto all-girl teams they used to complain about how physical she was on the court. At UAlbany, toughness is expected every day.

"I used to be very shy when I first came here," says Rosario, a junior. "I feel like I came out of my shell."

Her growing confidence on the court gave her more confidence in the classroom, where she's been steadily improving her grades. She sees herself as a leader on the team, wanting to blame the rare loss on herself, and staying extra hours in the gym to improve so she could contribute more the next time.

One summer she introduced Craig to her personal trainer so they could spend time working out together, helping the team's tallest player get more fit.

Meanwhile, basketball has helped Craig embrace who she is. As women, we often go to war with our bodies, denying them calories and criticizing their softness instead of celebrating their ability to run hard for 40 minutes up and down a court. Basketball helped Craig learn to embrace all 6-foot-9 inches of herself as an athletic gift, a place where her height opens doors rather than forcing her to duck through them. She used to hate crowds, now she walks through the stands. "I used to try to stoop to hide," she says.

Royals found confidence in the game, too, and a series of life lessons that Abrahamson-Henderson pushes in her "phenomenal woman" approach.

"I have so much more confidence now," Royals says. "I think I've become such a better person (with) the values (Abrahamson-Henderson) instills — be punctual, every room you walk into introduce yourself to everyone."

The coach wants her players to learn to network, to make connections, to be aggressive in pursuing their dreams and not be apologetic about that drive in the process. If they can learn to do it on the court, they can learn to do it in a boardroom.

Ten-year-old Savannah will grow up with many years of watching all those "big sisters" compete in a national tournament ahead of her. It will shape her own basketball dreams. But more importantly, she'll know exactly what phenomenal women look like.